Certifiable

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
29 Apr 2016	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - GVQ (Batavia, NY) - FZY (Fulton, NY) - SDC	2.2	1533.8

Every twenty-four months, my transponder (per FAR 91.413) and altimeter / encoder / static system (per FAR 91.411) require inspection and certification. My "IFR cert" was due at the end of April. Ray does not do avionics work on the field at Williamson-Sodus and the technician from Canadaigua who occasionally makes house calls there was unavailable because his equipment was out for calibration.

Fortunately, Boshart Enterprises at the Genesee County Airport had an open slot. Brian, who installed my audio panel, GNS-430W, and GTX-330 ES transponder was no longer employed at the shop, but I was able to schedule with Jake.

Pier at Sodus Bay and Sodus Point, NY

Consistent with the on-going need to break-in my new cylinder, I flew for an hour prior to landing in Batavia for my 10:00 am appointment. I ranged eastward under a clear sky, roaming along the familiar Lake Ontario shoreline.

Pier at Little Sodus Bay near Fair Haven, NY

Power plant and lakefront, Oswego, NY

Oswego River where it empties into Lake Ontario at Oswego, NY

I flew as far east as the Oswego River before turning 180° to the west and flying back past Sodus on the way to Batavia.

Genesee River passing through Rochester, NY

Westbound, I crossed between the city of Rochester below and an overcast above.

When I as just north of Greater Rochester International, a bright light caught my eye. It was the landing light from a commercial airliner settling onto runway 4. Say what you will about Allegiant Air, the pilot flying this ship put it right on the center line.

I landed on runway 10 at Genesee County with a slight left crosswind. Though it was sunny over Sodus and Oswego, a light rain had begun in Batavia.

While Jake brought the Warrior inside to begin the IFR cert, Carol gave me a personalized tour of the new building that would house the FBO, Boshart Enterprises, P&L Air (the ironically named flight school on the field), and (someday, hopefully) an airport cafe. Though Carol was frustrated with managing the logistics of relocating the shop, it appeared to me that it will be a great facility for them once the pain of moving is over.

Jake used my airplane to train the new avionics technician on how to do an IFR cert. Though he arrived with military experience, the new guy was unfamiliar with General Aviation equipment and practices. This training made the certification go longer than usual. In the process, Jake discovered that Brian had checked the new transponder when he installed it in November, putting its inspection schedule out of sync with the rest of the system. Jake redid this work so that everything would come due at the same time, but did not charge me for the duplicated effort. Boshart Enterprises has always treated me well.

Because the certification continued through lunch, I had pizza and wings with the staff. When invited to join, I declined because I did not have cash to pay for my share of lunch. Carol insisted that I join and kindly covered my portion.

In telling Helicopter Ray about it later, he summarized by saying, "So, you got a full IFR cert for the cost of a VFR cert and then THEY bought you lunch? Sounds to me like you ripped them off!" Thanks, Ray. I hadn't thought of it that way.

With all of my FAA regulatory requirements satisfied for 2016, I departed from Batavia in light rain. I added another hour of flight time to the engine by flying to the Oswego County Airport (FZY or "Fuzzy") for fuel, then flew a meandering course back to the Williamson-Sodus airport via Canandaigua.